Isaiah 41: 17, 18 -"The Poor and Needy seek water but there is none, Their tongues fail for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers in desolate heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water."
Following last week's blog, I just kept feeling so strongly to continue along the topic of God doing amazing things here and now. Isaiah 41:17-20 jumped off the pages of the Bible at me. I've done studies on this portion of scripture before and preached on it before, but it is so relevant now.
When I read verse, 17, I thought, "I sure do feel at time that I am thirsty in this place." There is so much around to satisfy the mind, body and emotions but nothing to really quench the spiritual thirst. God sees the thirst. He hears and He will not forsake us; He will quench our spiritual thirst.
It is amazing to see God so willing to pour out water into every area of our life. In verse 18, He puts refreshing water in areas which are normally impossible to reach- the desolate heights, the midst of valleys, in the wilderness and in the dry lands.
John 7:37, 38, 39-- "....Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him' By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believe in Him will later to receive." (NIV)
He is pouring out His Spirit, the refreshing water, for all those who are thirsty. We don't have to be spiritually dehydrated; He wants to pour out the refreshing waters of His Spirit. What does that mean? How will His Spirit quench our thirst?
The Fruit of the Spirit will bring peace where there is turmoil, joy where there is sadness, love where there is hate. It will fill up the empty places in our heart. It will bring healing where we need healing.
The Gifts of Spirit will cause us to not only be whole ourselves, but to allow that living water to flow out to touch others. As we walk in the Word of Knowledge, Word of Wisdom, and Discerning of Spirits, we will be able to let God use us to touch other people's lives. There are so many who are thirsty for the real thing. They've been given imitations and they are tired of the fake; they want the authentic power of God to touch their lives. As His Spirit flows from within us to those around us in our work place, at school, or even at home we will be able to see the Gift of miracles, Gifts of healing and Gifts of Faith in action. Nothing will be too hard for God to do. When we are tired and drained, we simply throw ourselves on God and allow His Spirit to pray through us the way He only knows how to. (Romans 8:26,27)
The refreshing water of the Holy Spirit is only the beginning. As I look through the rest of verses in Isaiah 41, I see God has so much more for us.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
New Things
Isaiah 43:18-19 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." (NIV)
Have you ever wished you could forget some of the things you did in the past and start all over again? In these verses, God talks about not holding onto the past but embracing the new things which He is about to do in our lives. Wow! Isn't that wonderful? Sure it sounds wonderful, but what are these new things He plans to do?
God wants to bring new hope, new vision, and new opportunities. It says He will make a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. In the natural it is impossible, but with God nothing is impossible. This is evidence of the miracles He wants to perform in our lives. He wants to bring the life of Christ into areas of our life which we thought were dead. He wants to stir up spiritual gifts which we thought were lost. He wants to resurrect talents we thought were gone. He desires to give new gifts, new talents, and new anointing.
If He is so willing to do all these things for us, why is it we aren't seeing them? If we look a little further down to verse 22, it says, "Yet you have not called upon Me....." He is wanting to do so much in our lives, but we just are not interested. He says, He hasn't even put a heavy burden on us or huge requirement and yet still we choose not to call out to Him. We choose not to honor Him and His ways. Why do we choose not to be open with Him?
We argue that we are open to Him. We even assure ourselves we are fulfilling all our "Christian duties." This is not the solution. What is the solution? In Revelation 2:4, Jesus says, "Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken your first love." We have to come back to the intimate love relationship we had with Jesus. We have to come to the point where nothing else is more important than Him. Once we put Him first in our lives and all that He has for us, we will see new things taking place in our life!
Let us open ourselves to Him and expect Him to do great things, in us and through us.
Have you ever wished you could forget some of the things you did in the past and start all over again? In these verses, God talks about not holding onto the past but embracing the new things which He is about to do in our lives. Wow! Isn't that wonderful? Sure it sounds wonderful, but what are these new things He plans to do?
God wants to bring new hope, new vision, and new opportunities. It says He will make a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. In the natural it is impossible, but with God nothing is impossible. This is evidence of the miracles He wants to perform in our lives. He wants to bring the life of Christ into areas of our life which we thought were dead. He wants to stir up spiritual gifts which we thought were lost. He wants to resurrect talents we thought were gone. He desires to give new gifts, new talents, and new anointing.
If He is so willing to do all these things for us, why is it we aren't seeing them? If we look a little further down to verse 22, it says, "Yet you have not called upon Me....." He is wanting to do so much in our lives, but we just are not interested. He says, He hasn't even put a heavy burden on us or huge requirement and yet still we choose not to call out to Him. We choose not to honor Him and His ways. Why do we choose not to be open with Him?
We argue that we are open to Him. We even assure ourselves we are fulfilling all our "Christian duties." This is not the solution. What is the solution? In Revelation 2:4, Jesus says, "Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken your first love." We have to come back to the intimate love relationship we had with Jesus. We have to come to the point where nothing else is more important than Him. Once we put Him first in our lives and all that He has for us, we will see new things taking place in our life!
Let us open ourselves to Him and expect Him to do great things, in us and through us.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Mark My Words
One of the passages I read for my Sunday sermon was II Timothy 3:1-9. Even though the passage was not my entire sermon, it just kept coming back to me this week. I couldn't get away from how the Apostle Paul started out by saying , "Mark this...." (NIV) , "But know this..." (NKJV), or "Don't be naive...there are difficult times ahead..." (The Message). It definitely implies this will surely happen. Yet, we don't seem to pay much attention to these verses hidden in the midst of the book of Timothy.
The Apostle Paul described what it will be like in the last days. People, both Believers and pre-Believers, will find themselves in various levels of giving into self. For many who 'think' they are believers, they are simply holding to a form of godliness but denying the power of God. A form of godliness is just a form of religion. True Godliness is based on a relationship with God.
Paul advises us to be careful of this influence. The influence which finds us wanting to please ourselves rather than please God and follow His ways. It is not so much staying away from people or a person, but rather the "Spirit of the Age." Some may come in the name of Christianity, but if they are not acknowledging God's sovereignity in our lives than they are simply playing "Christian dress up."
So I kept thinking, what can we do to guard ourselves? As I read further, II Timothy 3:10-17, I found the key. It is simply that we need to ..."continue in the things we have learned"...."know who you are learning from" and "know the scripture." Don't depart from the foundational truths of the Word of God. Seek Him and Him only!!
The Apostle Paul described what it will be like in the last days. People, both Believers and pre-Believers, will find themselves in various levels of giving into self. For many who 'think' they are believers, they are simply holding to a form of godliness but denying the power of God. A form of godliness is just a form of religion. True Godliness is based on a relationship with God.
Paul advises us to be careful of this influence. The influence which finds us wanting to please ourselves rather than please God and follow His ways. It is not so much staying away from people or a person, but rather the "Spirit of the Age." Some may come in the name of Christianity, but if they are not acknowledging God's sovereignity in our lives than they are simply playing "Christian dress up."
So I kept thinking, what can we do to guard ourselves? As I read further, II Timothy 3:10-17, I found the key. It is simply that we need to ..."continue in the things we have learned"...."know who you are learning from" and "know the scripture." Don't depart from the foundational truths of the Word of God. Seek Him and Him only!!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
All My Friends
I've always wanted a way to communicate with everyone spread out all over the world. It never occurred to me to create a blog. Yesterday, I was talking to Pastor Matt Krachunis, who has a blog, and he encouraged me to write a weekly blog. This seems like a great way for me to share my thoughts with all of you.
Looking back over this past year, I realize I'm at a point where I am starting all over again. Now I'm in Renton, WA starting a new church and I'm back at square one. It almost feels a bit unsettling because there is nothing solid or secure. There are times I look for something to hold onto to feel secure in this new place but I find the only security is in Jesus.
The key I learned in 2008 is that God wants us to continually believe in Him and trust Him for greater things. There is never a time we arrive at a place where we just settle in and don't need to change or believe God for greater things. It is easy to settle into a routine. It feels comfortable. I've found myself in the comfort zone many times, and I believe God has brought me here to come out of my comfort zone and to continue to walk by faith. I'm still learning, growing and believing. It is assuring to know God will always be there and be my anchor.
I hope my weekly updates will be an encouragement to you. God Bless you!!
Looking back over this past year, I realize I'm at a point where I am starting all over again. Now I'm in Renton, WA starting a new church and I'm back at square one. It almost feels a bit unsettling because there is nothing solid or secure. There are times I look for something to hold onto to feel secure in this new place but I find the only security is in Jesus.
The key I learned in 2008 is that God wants us to continually believe in Him and trust Him for greater things. There is never a time we arrive at a place where we just settle in and don't need to change or believe God for greater things. It is easy to settle into a routine. It feels comfortable. I've found myself in the comfort zone many times, and I believe God has brought me here to come out of my comfort zone and to continue to walk by faith. I'm still learning, growing and believing. It is assuring to know God will always be there and be my anchor.
I hope my weekly updates will be an encouragement to you. God Bless you!!
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